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9/11 Health and Compensation

On January 2, 2011, President Obama Signed the James Zadroga 9/11 Health and Compensation Act (H.R. 847) into law. Congresswoman Carolyn Maloney spent nearly a decade fighting to pass this important law, which has provided medical monitoring, treatment, and compensation to those sick and injured from the September 11th attacks.

The Zadroga Act’s two critical programs providing medical treatment and compensation for 9/11 heroes – the World Trade Center Health Program and the September 11th Victim Compensation Fund – were set to shut down and stop providing medical care and compensation by October 2016.

The World Trade Center Health Program was permanently extended, and an additional $4.6 billion was provided to fully fund the September 11th Victim Compensation Fund by the Consolidated Appropriations Act of 2016 signed into law December 18, 2015.

More on 9/11 Health and Compensation

Fourteen years and two months have passed since the World Trade Center collapsed into a cloud of toxic dust, and that long passage of time has altered American politics in countless ways. The public, for example, is much more leery about going to war in the Middle East than it was in those initial months of anxiety and anger, or about giving up its privacy rights in the name of national security. And on Capitol Hill, finding a few billion dollars to care for the thousands of people who were poisoned by carcinogens at Ground Zero has become a much tougher sell.

WASHINGTON -- When Congress rushed to finish a 9/11 health and compensation bill in 2010, just before Christmas, supporters of the legislation were forced to scale back their proposals to win over skeptical Republicans.

Now the nonpartisan Congressional Budget Office has revealed how much 9/11 responders were shorted in that deal -- somewhere between $8 billion and $11 billion through 2025, and more after then.

Members of the New York Congressional Delegation are continuing their push for a full reauthorization of the James Zadroga 9/11 Health and Compensation Act.

Despite public outcry, intensive TV coverage and pressure from the likes of comedian Jon Stewart, the bill is being held up in Congress by two House Republican committee chairmen who are worried that a full on reauthorization could create a mandatory spending program that's not paid for in its entirety.

Mayor Bill de Blasio and members of New York’s congressional delegation are calling on House Speaker Paul Ryan to convince the Republican House majority to permanently extend the 2010 Zadroga Act, the law that provides compensation for first responders who became ill after the September 11, 2001 terror attacks.

De Blasio, with House members Charlie Rangel, Carolyn Maloney and Joe Crowley at his side, also announced he had sent a letter to Ryan that was signed by a bipartisan group of 24 mayors and local legislators from around the country calling for reauthorization of the Act.

NYPD Lt. Marci Simms, 51, contracted cancer after responding to Sept. 11 more than 14 years ago. She was among more than 33,000 first responders and survivors with illnesses related to the terrorist attack's aftermath.

She died on Nov. 5.

"We fear that number will only grow," Mayor Bill de Blasio said in front of City Hall on Monday, calling for the permanent funding of a bill designed to pay for medical treatment of the more than 72,000 first responders from around the country who tended to Ground Zero after the 2001 attack.

NEW YORK—Today, New York City Mayor Bill de Blasio joined a coalition of 27 bipartisan mayors and local leaders (including all regional county executives) to send a letter to new U.S. House of Representatives Speaker Paul Ryan, urging him to permanently reauthorize and fully fund the James Zadroga 9/11 Health and Compensation Reauthorization Act.

A group of 9/11 first responders who have been diagnosed with cancer and other diseases are putting Republican presidential candidates on the hot seat.

The International Association of Fire Fighters will run a political advertisement Tuesday in the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel, pressuring the presidential candidates to extend healthcare benefits for these first responders.

NEW YORK (CBSNewYork) — Twenty-four local leaders from around the country, including Mayor Bill de Blasio, have created a bipartisan coalition in support of reauthorizing the James Zadroga 9/11 Health and Compensation Act as a permanent measure.

On Nov. 9, the coalition sent a letter to new U.S. Speaker of the House Paul Ryan, urging him to make reauthorizing the Zadroga Act a ‘top priority.’